I watched the clouds and sky all day and with streaking clouds moving through the sky all day I was planning for a great sunset, some long exposures. Soft water and streaking cloud look was what I was hoping for or at least some interesting skies with some good depth and texture. Drove out to Dana Point after work trying to beat the sunset. Needless to say the clouds cleared and the sky wasn't very interesting.
Now realize, anytime you get to enjoy a sunset down the beach with the waves crashing and warm weather it is a great thing. But us photographers want it all. Great sunset, warm weather, clear shooting, dramatic sky. Give it to us all day, everyday!! But alas, that is just not meant to be. So for me I try to make the best of what I am looking at.
I am still working with the Black Card Technique for interesting shots without multiple filters and exposures for blending. This is a black card technique photograph (See below for technique instructions). On this photo to get more glow out of the rocks I really overexposed the water. I wanted more glow out of the water and rocks than what I was getting with a normal exposure so if metering the rocks was 10 seconds for what the camera said was a 0EV exposure I made it 20 or 30 seconds depending on what I could get for lighting without blowing out the highlights. I kept the same exposure for the sky as the camera read of a 0EV exposure it was mostly the rocks and water I wanted to give more of a glow. Once again this is a great technique and worth trying instead of GND filters or HDR.
Worth noting: Post processing time and layers are greatly decreased with this type of process.
Black Card Technique:
Black Card Technique is a little technique I read about so I don't have to use GND filters or HDR. A black card, shutter release and tripod is pretty much all that is needed. Here is the way it works:
>Spot Meter your foreground
>Spot Meter your sky
>Shoot in bulb mode to control exposure time
>Put black card over the area with the least exposure (Need at least 1.5 second total exposure)
>If the foreground is a 6 second exposure and the sky is a 3 second exposure cover the sky for a count of >3 seconds and remove card for the next 3 seconds and get a great exposure (6 seconds foreground, 3 seconds sky).
>Remember to shake card up and down just a bit so you don't get any lines where the card stops. That is it!! Takes a few times to get the feel for it.
>Things to note
-When shooting in Bulb Mode you can always adjust your time for the darker area's.
-The sky may not always be the darker area depending on the look you are going for
-ND filters may be necessary to get longer exposures during daylight hours
The Shot:
Single Exposure: F/16, 30 Seconds, ISO 100, 20mm, Sigma 10-20 Lens
Post Processing:
-ACR-Minor adjustments to Exposure, fill light, Clarity, Black, Noise
CS-5:
-Adjustment Layer-Levels-Blue in sky and water
-Topaz Adjust-Bring back color and glow in foreground water
-Adjustment Layer-Curves-Brighten up foreground rocks only
-Adjustment Layer-Curves-Brighten up foreground water
-High Pass sharpening
-Cropped, bordered and sized for posting
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